Brisbane State High School

Brisbane State High School is really poor. When I visited, there was rubbish all around the campus and no teachers to tell of the kids. It’s also very overcrowded, the bridges linking campuses being a war zone making most students late to class. The only good things about this school is the chocolate muffins and butter chicken, as well as the 9am starts. The canteen is full of overpriced meals, on which they keep raising the price because of ‘inflation’. They say there a great supportive community yet don’t support the people who now can’t afford lunch because of the ridiculous prices. Also, boys are giving haircuts in the bathroom, which teachers usually don’t even notice or care, which is outrageous as imagine your son coming home with all his hair gone! Exactly. I can guarantee you that over 90% of the kids there vape and drink, even some of the 7,8s and 9a loosing there virginity already. There have been videos of girls giving boys pleasure in their school uniforms and school bathrooms yet no one gets in trouble for them. More people need to be expelled and suspended, especially if getting caught vaping in the bathrooms, as most kids just get a warning even though there illegal. Also the phone ban will not teach them anything, as kids have spare phones, ipads and half the time the schools internet doesn’t work, meaning that they wouldn’t be able to hotspot so they wouldn’t be able to do any work. Overall, I do not recommend.

Admin kinda cranky sometimes, and a few out there teachers, but a good-ish culture (except some racist second tier TCs) and tons of opportunities.

If you're a parent reading this, do not send your child here. The luxury "private-like" experience is not worth your yearly $3000. It is in shambles.

I am a grade ten film and music student here (since grade seven) who takes no science and does general maths and english. The past 3 and 1/2 years have been hell. There is absolutely no support for arts students and they constantly push the ATAR scale agenda because it's clearly all they care about; not to mention their prioritisation of presentation over students' wellbeing.

The LGBTQIA café is useless, from what I’ve heard. The higher up staff care more about the uniform policy than any student’s mental health, just based off of what they address in the weekly assemblies. “Please remember to tie up your hair,” as apposed to, “please remember to stop assaulting people.” It’s honestly so ridiculous (and yes, that kind of stuff DOES happen at this school, especially in senior grades).

If you’re enrolling and don’t have the required funds to purchase a brand spanking new iPad or uniform, too bad! These guys don’t care about your financial position as long as they continue being top-dollar. And even then, kids with base iPads and second hand uniforms get relentlessly bullied - an issue that’s just adding to the ‘not going to fix or address’ list.

To “prevent vaping,” when that was going around, they told everyone that they couldn’t go to the bathroom AT ALL. Why not just check student’s pockets for vapes and then let them go??? What about the girls who were literally bleeding in class and yet couldn’t go to the bathroom??? This is all stuff that administration couldn’t care less about.

They blabber on about the opportunities and prestige, but the truth is, most of the good things only apply to popular kids, or those who do everything that the staff tell them to. It’s like brainwashing.

Some decent things? Sure, I’ll list a few. Besides, it’d be unfair if I didn’t.

- Term-based events that vary from grade-to-grade or whole school.
- Two large canteens and one small one, each with varying options.
- Most of the teachers are fine and can actually teach.
- Guidance counselors and a weekly GP available.
- Flexible online-based learning (unless of course you’re sick. Then your issues are all your fault).
- Very open and green outdoor environment, along with a massive oval and multiple basketball/netball courts.
- They’re rich so there’s tons of equipment, especially in the art’s department.

But the bad outweighs the good, in my own opinion. A lot of those positives are overturned and/or ruined by the administration turning a blind eye to every possible issue and instead creating more. I’m so lucky to have the friends I have, because I know for damn sure that if there are year sevens coming into this school without people to stick to, they’re most likely going to end it in the same way.

TLDR: don’t enroll your kid in Brisbane State High unless their education is black and white in terms of ATAR (ie. aiming for 99.95, because then they’ll like you).

state high has little care or regard for the well being of their students. to them we are simple atar scores that they can show off to potential students while ignoring the hard work and sacrifice that students put into those grades. they may love to preach mindfulness in weekly arc lessons, but they ignore the fact that putting students in school for 6+ hours a day, assigning multiple hours of homework and revision practice, and also expecting them to participate in extracurricular activities in order to be an “all-rounder” puts students in extreme states of emotional distress. if a persons material conditions are making them unhappy, you cannot fix their problems without Changing the material conditions.

and this unsustainable lifestyle is one that is far too widely accepted at state high. from the moment your child enters the classroom, they are likely to surrounded by toxicity, especially if enrolling them in programs like Aspire, and extension subjects. these kids compete with each other, showing off their unhealthy lifestyles lifestyles to see “who got the least amount of sleep” and “whose mental health is on the steepest decline”. these children have been programmed to believe that their grades are indicative of their inherent, moral value, and state high does nothing to challenge this notion. when you take smart, prepubescent kids who are still grappling with identity and trying to find their place in the world, they will look to anything to try and measure their worth, to justify their insecure, and state high holds the answer directly in front of their noses. they of course award students for academic achievements, but, as they move through the grades the bar gradually rises and rises, setting high and increasingly more difficult expectations. suddenly, getting straight A’s (an already very impressive feat) is not enough, Now, you need to get all 100%s in every subject. Now, you need to achieve all A’s in every subject, in every term of every year for 6 yeas straight.

it is also an inhospitable environment for many neurodivergent students, and accomodations are severely lacking. i know far too many students who very quickly burnt out and dropped out after being put under such immense pressure and unreasonable expectations after enrolling at state high.

as well as this, if you are a student interested in the arts, prepare to spend hours of your time trying to justify your decision to take an arts subject over a supposedly superior subject like specialist math, physics or chemistry. you will be pushed to choose STEM subjects as they scale higher under the atar system, and make the school look better.

this is not even starting with the censorship issue that state high has. in the time that i’ve been at state high alone, i’ve seen multiple publications be decimated and shut down for daring to speak out against state high and its administration. any official newsletters must go though administration, and appeal to the conservative ideals of the pnc. freedom of speech does not exist here. freedom of expression does not exist here.

Finally, in order for the school to perform at such incredible incredibly high levels, they much push the teachers to the max. they are burnt out, they are overworked, they are stifled by administration and they are sick of it. state high has one of the highest rates of teacher dissatisfaction.

So, please consider the cost of a record amount of 99.95 atar scores, before sending your child here.

If you want your child to be socially maladjusted, awkward and downright nasty, send them here! There is a competitive culture where only the best of the best get a slight bit of praise. Straight As isn’t good enough here. Many of my friends said they wished they didn’t have a lunch time so they wouldn’t have to socialise AT ALL. That’s the culture here. I went to a free public school where kids did DRUGS and the culture was better, because at least people WANTED friends.